Named for the first settler to the area, Pat Smith, the term “island” refers to an island of pine trees on high ground surrounded by a sea of scrub prairie. Pat Smith first settled the area in 1854 with the Long family settling on the island in the latter part of the 19thcentury, and there were families still living in the area until the middle of the 20thcentury. Archeologists have managed to determine the exact locations of several of the original homesteads, though little remains of any of them, the sinkhole which provided residents with their water supply is still there though it is completely dried up, the remnants of a livestock dipping vat are near the area in which the Long family grazed their animals, Rueben and Sarah Long’s water cistern has survived the years partially intact and of course the rather well preserved family cemetery is on a hill above the Calvin Long homestead is extant. This area gained notoriety as the set of the movie, “The Yearling”.

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